Nicole Tasker Woods

I had a wonderful long weekend in NH this past weekend. Not only did I get to see some of my relatives that I haven’t seen in over 6 months, but I also got to share a special Bridal/Baby shower with my future sister-in-law, Kristina. She had been planning my shower with my mom for a few months and then my mom and I secretly planned to do half of my shower as a bridal shower and surprise her. Although she had an idea what was going on, it was still a great day.

Kristina, Carrie and I went into Concord to get mani/pedis so we would be beautiful for the shower. Then, in order to kill some time, we walked around the mall and enjoyed some Dunkin’ Donuts steamy beverages. When we arrived at The Common Man, the room for the shower was all decked out with blue and white balloons, hydrangeas on the tables, presents galore and of course, a creamy butter cream cake from Jacques.

I wish the weather had been nicer–it being springtime I assumed the temps would be somewhere around 50 degrees, boy was I wrong! With the frigid winds, despite the sun shining every day, the air outside was in the high 30’s–eek!

My beautiful black lab, Sophie, is getting older, but she still remembered me. And I think I have a new friend in Daisy, the beast of a horse–I mean dog.

It is always great to open presents and baby stuff is THE cutest, but the most exciting part about being in NH this weekend was knowing that the next time I see these people, I will be a mommy with a new baby boy. I feel like everything is starting to come together and I can not wait for him to get here!

More pictures from the shower to come at the end of this week when my husband returns from his business trip and brings my computer back!

A few weeks ago, I began writing a diary and the tone is directed towards my baby. It is something that I wanted to do throughout my entire pregnancy from beginning to end, but have only now gotten around to it. Instead of having it be all about me and my feelings and my emotions, I document the baby-related days, events, pregnancy milestones; and I have adjusted the content so that when it is read, it is like me talking to my son. I have also used this diary to store sonogram photographs of the little man, which already have dates printed on them, so it should turn into a very nice keepsake.

Maybe one day, he will want to read it. Or, if he wants to know what our life was like before he came along, I have it all written down. The events read like little stories (and of course they are all documented with dates), so maybe he will want me to read them to him before he falls asleep. In my baby & parenting magazines, they suggest putting together a time capsule of how you and your spouse are living now: pictures of the house pre-baby, take-out menus from favorite restaurants–things like this that you can come back to and share with the little one.

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Battling the heartburn this morning at 9am…ugh! It has been getting worse in the past few weeks and I have been able to pinpoint which foods give me heartburn the worst:

• Fried foods
• Tomato Sauce
• Potato Chips
• Coffee

But this morning I had a plain bagel with plain cream cheese and I was stunned to feel the burning sensation in my chest and throat by 9am, are you kidding me!? Usually I do not feel it come on until the late evening hours or right before bed. But this is ridiculous. I am pounding water like you wouldn’t believe and in between my trips to the bathroom, I am drinking more and more cold water to try and fan the flames. I have been munching on tums as well, but to no avail. My next attempt will be a green apple.

The only GOOD thing about having heartburn this badly (yes, there is something good about it) is that in all the books I have read, they say the one old wives’ tale that is actually true is that if you have heartburn during pregnancy, then your baby will be born with a full head of hair. Nice!

But you heard it here first, if my kid comes out bald, I’m DEFINITELY calling out that old wives’ tale!

I called my Grampa on Friday to see how he was doing. The nursing staff had to track him down (he lives in a nursing home). For a split second I thought he had tried to escape again, but no, he was just having dinner in the dining hall. I told them I would call back but one second later, there he was.

I am always surprised by how ON he is whenever I talk to him. I used to have to prep a list of talking topics, but he ends up firing more questions my way than the other way around. Not only did he solve the crisis in Japan, but when I told him I gained 16 pounds so far in my pregnancy, he told me I needed to go on a diet! Never a boring call with Grampa.

For the past few months, Ryan has been waking up at 4:30am on Fridays so that he can get into work early to attend to business that needs his attention during the wee hours of the morning. As a result he gets to leave the office early in the afternoon, which is awesome. He gets that time to go home early and nap with Cali or run errands, go to doctor’s appointments–stuff that he could not do because he was at work.

Another side effect of Ryan working these strange, early hours on Fridays is that it is hard to sleep through him being up and about. He does take Cali out on these mornings, but most of the time I am wide awake for about an hour after his alarm rings at 4:30am. Well, this morning was no different…

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All in all, I like being pregnant. I have heard from friends who actually said that their 9 months with a bun in the oven was not fun for them at all. But I don’t mind how my body is looking, I actually embrace my growing belly and wear tight shirts whenever possible. Even the problems I have from sleeping in this state are masked by my love of the fact that a life is growing inside of me. I think it is amazing that women have this ability to house a baby in their bodies. Sometimes I forget that he is really in there and then my son kicks and I can actually see him moving from the outside. Amazing.

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Now think about that phrase to the tune of “Don’t Rock the Boat”–that’s the song I sing every time I drop the soap in the shower, which is about 3-5 times per shower visit. And it is not just the soap I am dropping regularly these days, it is EVERYTHING! Since I hit 5 months in my pregnancy and my belly has gotten a lot bigger, my fingers have gotten buttery. I can’t seem to hold onto anything.

Towards the end of a long day of dropping items on the floor, I start to ease myself down to the floor to sit, grab the item, take a minute and then haul myself back up to a standing position. My back is so tired of me bending over again and again and AGAIN! I am definitely earning my monthly massage this time around.

I think it is a hazing/rite-of-passage every mother-to-be must endure. From what I have heard from other mothers, they know EXACTLY what I am talking about.